


No One Understands

by thats_not_likely



Category: We Are The Tigers - Allen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:01:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27269143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thats_not_likely/pseuds/thats_not_likely
Summary: What if Kate was there when Chess got killed? What if Riley caught Kate before she could cry for help?(The title is from the song Before the Breakdown by Preston Max Allen)
Relationships: Cairo & Riley (We Are The Tigers), Chess & Kate (We Are The Tigers), Kate/Eva Sanchez (We Are The Tigers), Riley/Eva Sanchez (We Are The Tigers)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 23





	1. Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, so I hope you like it!

Kate didn’t want to be there and everyone knew it. She also knew she would do anything to hangout with Chess, and God knew that trumped all.  _ So what  _ Kate thought.  _ Chess is my best friend and she only has a year left.  _ One  _ year…  _

_ This could have gone better,  _ Kate thought as she slouched next to Chess on the bench outside of Riley’s house. They had only been there for what felt like an hour and Kate had already gotten into an argument with Farrah, a stupid sophomore, on Chess’ behalf. Farrah kept going on and on about how Chess was stoned, meanwhile  _ she _ couldn’t even walk in a straight line! Ugh! Kate was so frustrated that no one believed Chess! Couldn’t they just see it in her eyes that she was better? Kate glanced over a Chess trying to get her attention, and was able to catch her gaze. Speaking of Chess’ eyes…

_ No.  _ She told herself she wouldn’t be tortured by her emotions. Kate didn’t want to build up a hopeless romance, but when Chess smiled the whole world around her faded.  _ Oh god you make this so hard! _

“So?” Chess asked, raising her eyebrows. 

“Fine,” Kate replied smugly, standing up. She grabbed her bag and looked at Chess expectantly. 

Chess took in a breath and sighed. “You go ahead. I’m- I’m gonna take a breather.” Kate didn’t like the tone Chess was using. It reminded her of when- And then it hit her. Chess was clearly worried and Kate couldn’t put her finger on the why; that was until she saw Chess’ hand slowly inch towards her bag. 

Kate tilted her head, “Give it to me.” She said, reaching for the small bag. When Chess tightened her grip it only made Kate pull harder. “Give it to me!” Finally ripping it from Chess, Kate flew the zipper open to reveal a small pack of pills.  _ Chess’ pills.  _ Chess had started using again! She started using again and didn’t tell Kate! 

“We can start over!” Kate barely choked out. “You are so much better than this!” Kate couldn’t believe what was happening. She couldn’t believe it. 

“No I’m  _ not,  _ Kate,” Chess practically yelled.  _ Yelled.  _ That was something Chess never did, especially not to Kate. She must have realized this too because suddenly her posture went from slouched to standing tall and proud, yet she slightly hung her head. “I’m sorry but I’m not.”

This was becoming too much for Kate to handle. Everything became fuzzy and the next thing she knew she was pushing past Chess in a rage, slamming the pills into her chest mumbling something she couldn’t even make out. She walked up the porch stairs and slammed the front door as she left. 

Quickly looking around for a place to cool down, Kate scanned the entrance hall for a room she could slide into. The first door she opened happened to be the laundry room, so she shut the door quietly, hoping no one would hear her. She didn’t feel like hearing another one of Riley’s  _ peppy _ speeches about being a team or whatever. So Kate slumped down against the door and slouched forward once again. 

Kate didn’t want to cry. She wouldn’t let herself cry. Chess was not worth crying over!  _ But she is!  _ Kate reminded herself. She knew she could get better if she just  _ tried _ . But Chess wasn’t trying. She wasn’t.  _ Maybe it wasn’t Chess who needed to try. _ Kate thought desperately.  _ Maybe I have to try. I have to try for the both of us _ . With that Kate dried her eyes and stood up. She was going to go outside and  _ try.  _ No, she wasn’t. Because as some dumb, green Star Wars character once said,  _ Do or do not, there is no try.  _ Kate was going to do. Or do it. Or whatever the hell it was supposed to translate like in this type of situation. Normally, Kate was way too stubborn to go back to Chess like this, but something felt off. Something about the way she left hadn’t felt right, and if this was the night where she became even a sliver of an inch nicer, then to hell with it. 

Brushing off whatever dust came off of her, Kate opened the door slowly, still not wanting anyone to hear her. Once she knew she was in the clear, and that no peppy Rileys or drunken Farrahs were coming her way, she stepped back into the hallway and approached the front door. As Kate opened the front door, a shiver went down her spine. There was zero chance that that was a good thing, so using her instincts, Kate slipped into the shadows as she heard rustling in the bushes. She felt something was about to go horribly wrong, but she couldn’t escape the dark until she had Chess safely in her sights. But where on Earth was Chess?! It was so still outside that Kate assumed she’d be easy to find, but there was no one there…  _ She probably went home, _ Kate thought. At this point she needed to say something to convince herself that everything was fine. But then it wasn’t. 

All of a sudden Kate heard a shriek piercing the air. “Chess!” Kate yelled without thinking. She ran toward the direction of the never ending crying and came face to face with Riley.  _ Riley?  _ “What is going on?!” Kate demanded. “Is that Chess?” She yelped as she saw a limp body on the bench they had been sitting on less than half an hour ago. 

Riley rolled her eyes, dropping her hands down at her side to reveal the knife she had behind her back.  _ The knife.  _ It was covered in blood! Chess’ blood! Before Kate could even think to scream Riley was upon her. She forcefully grabbed Kate by the hair and had the knife positioned just above Kate’s neck. “Honestly Kate, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Riley huffed. And just like that she quickly slid the kitchen knife across her neck. 

And just like that Kate lost all control. 

  
  
  



	2. Pizza Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva just wanted to get her job done for the night. She got more than she wanted.

It was 7:15 and Eva had just delivered her second pizza of the night. She didn’t mind having a job, especially if it meant she could be of some use to her struggling family. She wished she could go out and party, get drunk and be a reckless teenager like the kids from West High, but she knew she had to be responsible. Partying was just glorified for no reason and Eva hated everyone in her school anyway. 

Squeezing herself back into the tiny car Eva had, she grabbed her gps and orders to plug in her next location.  _ Ugh. _ Eva thought.  _ Not another snobby rich people area _ . Eva had to go to the gated community on the other side of town a couple times a week and it looked like it was one of those nights. Eva requested to not have to deliver in her own town because when she did it was always so awkward;  _ how do you casually drop off a pizza to the girl who makes your life a living hell for being gay? _ The point was, Eva made a mental note that she was about to get a gracious tip, or none at all, so she had mixed feelings.

After driving a few miles, and spending a whole 5 minutes trying to convince the guard that she was just delivering pizza, she pulled up to her destination. Eva grabbed the pizza and got out of her car in front of the house, only it was more of a mansion. Taking a short scan of the area, Eva took a deep breath and started to walk up the stone path to get to the front door. 

Taking in the landscape, Eva noticed a rustling in the bushes. At first, she dismissed it as a squirrel or whatever. As she continued however, it started to grow louder. And, to make things even creepier, she started to notice a whimpering sound. Whimpering might not have been the right work to describe it. It was like an awful  _ gurgling _ sound. Eva winced as she rerouted herself to check it out. 

_ This is how every horror movie starts _ . Eva thought as she inched closer and closer. When she finally reached the corner of where the noise was coming from, she closed her eyes and hoped that she was just freaking out for no reason. And then she opened her eyes. And then she had a reason. 

Eva screamed, dropping the pizza. There was a girl laying in a pool of blood, and she was weakly flailing around, looking like she could pass out any second. As Eva’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was able to see where the blood was coming from. It was coming from a wound on this girl’s neck.  _ Holy shit! What the-  _

Eva’s thoughts were quickly interrupted when the girl on the floor loosely grabbed her ankle. Swiftly bending down, partly to help the girl and partly to get her off of her, Eva said, “Hey! Hey- it’s okay! I’m Eva, and I’m going to go get you help!” Eva had no idea how this girl was still conscious, let alone  _ alive.  _ The girl on the ground frantically waved her arm and motioned behind them. Looking up Eva noticed what she was trying to say. There was another girl with a stab wound on her stomach, laying on the bench beside where they were. There was so much blood. 

_ How did I miss that?! _ Eva thought, as her mind was screaming a million different things. Scrambling for her phone, she stood up and pleaded with the girl on the ground. “I will be right back. I promise. I promise I will be back for you and your friend.” 

As Eva slowly backed away, she started to break into a run towards the front door. After a few seconds she reached the doorbell and rang it. Realizing she didn’t have any time to waste, Eva started to knock frantically. 

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” she heard someone yell from inside.  _ Thank god there are people inside. _ The door swung open, a tall black girl stared at Eva, looking her up and down not bothering to hide her annoyance. “Where’s the pizza?” 

“There is a dead girl on your front lawn!” Eva blurted out. Okay, she knew she was in a rush but  _ man _ that came out too fast. Before they could shut the door in her face, Eva frantically added, “Two actually. Well I'm not sure if they're dead but… One has a- a flannel on. The other has- I don’t know! Just- please follow me!” Without really thinking about it, Eva grabbed the girl's wrist and led her and another wide-eyed girl who had been behind her, to where she’d left the girl on the ground and the girl on the bench. When they got there the flannel girl on the ground had stopped moving. If Eva had been functioning properly she would’ve bent down and checked the pulse, but of course she forgot how to breath so how was she going to remember to do that. 

“Oh my god!” The black girl screamed. “Annleigh, go get the others! Pizza girl, did you call the police?” As the wide-eyed girl, Annleigh, basically sprinted back into the house, Eva scrambled for an answer.

“Uh-” Eva stammered, “I meant to but- I just-” Before Eva could even form the right words, Annleigh was already back with the others, which apparently just meant a red-head who let out a loud shriek when she turned the corner. 

“Reeses is taking care of Mattie because she hit her head and passed out, but I told her what happened!” Annleigh said, a little too emphatically. “Oh god! Chess and Kate- I- I’m going to go look for Farrah!” And just like that Annleigh frantically ran back into the house and Eva was left with the black girl and the redhead. 

“So did you call the police?” Asked the red-head, who had been cupping her hands over her mouth until this moment. “When did you even get here? And how long have they been…” Her voice trailed off, but it didn’t sound like it was because she didn’t want to finish the sentence. “Oh my god! You’re Eva Sanchez! I’m Riley. I can’t believe it! This is- this is probably bad timing.” Riley commented, probably noticing the stunned face Eva was definitely wearing. “And this is Cairo by the way,” she added a bit sheepishly. Eva looked over at Cairo and immediately looked away when she saw that she was getting a death glare.  _ What was that about? Did she think Eva killed them? _

“Look, I don’t know what’s happening, but I do know that we should probably call the police. I was just trying to deliver the pizza,” Eva gestured to the pizza box that was now laying on the ground, “I have  _ no _ idea how any of this happened!” 

“And why the hell should we believe you?” Cairo asked, which made Eva sharply inhale. “You were the one that found them out here.” Eva started to back up at this accusation. She was just here to do her job! Her simple job to just hand someone a pizza had become  _ so  _ much more than that. She took another step back. 

“Cairo come on! Leave her be! We’ll just call the police. Eva was just trying to do her job. She didn’t know that Kate and Chess would’ve been  _ stabbed _ ,” Riley gushed, clearly trying to get Cairo away from Eva, but it wasn’t working. As Cairo took another step toward her, Eva took another step back. 

Then Eva heard another scream. It wasn’t a shriek or yell, it was a fully fleshed out blood curdling scream. And it was coming from the house. This frightened Eva so much that she took another step back. Another step back right into a tall tree that shook when she bumped it. The last thing she heard was Riley yelling her name. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, this chapter was really hard to write without giving too much away! If you couldn't tell, Eva got knocked out by a falling tree branch at the end of the chapter. I'm really trying to stick to the whole Eva-was-innocent-the-whole-time thing so that's what that is about! Also this fic will not just be from the points of view of Eva and Kate, but also Riley and Cairo! I'm trying to really flesh out their characters the way our king Preston would! (I am NO Preston Max Allen though!) Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!


	3. Those Poor Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the aftermath of the sleepover...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Quick note: This chapter is a.) kind of short because I jut wanted to get one out. b.) a bit of a mess. c.) based on light research and my experience with hospitals. 
> 
> \-----= signifies the pov(point of view) changing
> 
> tw! mention of murder, police stations, hospitals, and comas  
> please take caution before reading if any of these things will/tend to trigger you

Riley sat in the police station barely breathing. She knew everything would turn out just fine. She also knew that she killed two people and sent one to the hospital and into a coma. The one who saw everything happen. _Why couldn’t Kate just die?_ Riley thought it sounded morbid, but she had also had to wash off the warm blood of the girls she brutally stabbed, so what even was morbid? 

But still, everything would be fine because she wasn’t there under arrest. She was there stating her case against Mattie. The same case Annleigh, Reese, and Cairo said they would state. Riley was sure Eva would be stating the same case if she hadn’t been knocked out by a tree branch that had gotten loose; or maybe not. Maybe it was better that Eva was still recovering in the hospital. Better yet she was sharing a room with Kate so it gave Riley a reason to go visit Eva once and a while. She also had to make sure she was aware if Kate woke up because if she revealed it was Riley who had killed Chess and Farrah, that it was Riley that had slit Kate’s throat, everything would _not_ turn out just fine. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eva heard the monitor first. She opened her eyes to see the bright light second. She felt the IV in her arm third. When she finally grasped that she was in a hospital bed, Eva began to freak out a bit. Not because she didn’t know what time it was or even _how_ she had gotten there. No. Eva was starting to freak out because she didn’t know _why_ she was there. Why was she laying in a hospital bed with an extremely bright light shining down on her? But, wow. That light was really bright. Wanting to know what was going on, Eva began to sit up. She didn’t get far up though because as soon as her head started to tilt, all of the blood rushed out of it, making her want to throw up. It hurt so bad. So bad that words wouldn’t be able to describe the pain she was in. Wincing, Eva carefully lowered her head back onto the hard pillow she had taken her head off of. 

Suddenly, something attached itself to Eva’s hand. Or perhaps it was _someone_ … “Eva,” came a harsh whisper next to her ear. “Eva- can you hear me?” As the unknown voice got close to her ear, Eva felt a cold breeze caress her cheek. 

Realizing someone was there, Eva attempted to say some sort of greeting. Maybe a _hello_ would suffice. But instead, it came out as more of a humming sound. “Oh- _dios mios_ !” The voice whisper yelled, just a little too close to Eva, making her wince once again. _Is that my-_

“Mom?” Eva asked, yet again attempting to open her eyes. This time, through determination and more consciousness, Eva was able to keep her eyes open. The light still felt like it was burning holes in her eyes, but she really wanted to make out the mystery person. After a few moments of her eyes adjusting, Eva made out the familiar face of her mother. “Why am I-” Eva started to say, but stopped because she didn’t really know how to finish that sentence. So instead she moved her head in a little circle(which was actually a really bad idea at the moment because it caused another wave of pain to rush through her head) to gesture the hospital room. 

“You were hit on the head with something. The girls who were there say it was a fallen tree branch,” her mother told her softly. “You’ve been passed out for fourteen hours now, _mi hija_ .” _Fourteen hours?_ Eva thought abruptly. Not noticing her mother's furrowed eye-brows, Eva turned to her with wider-eyes. “Now don’t stress yourself out anymore then you have to! You have a pretty bad concussion.” 

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Eva mumbled, making her mom slightly chuckle. “Can we turn that damn light down?” 

“I’m not completely sure. I will make sure to ask, but the other girl might need some. People keep coming to visit her, no adults yet,” Eva’s mother continued. “I did hear you were the one to find her though! Those _poor_ girls-” 

“What are you _talking_ about?” Eva interrupted. “What other girl?” Slowly moving her head side to side, Eva wasn’t able to see anyone in the room except her mom, so it was evident she was confused. 

  
“I’m sorry baby, I thought you would remember...” With a saddened look washing over her face, Mrs. Sanchez pulled back a curtain that was behind her to reveal another part of the room she was in. In the new section of the room was another hospital bed, the one that held the “other girl”. Squinting through the _damn_ light she was able to make out the girl’s face. Eva did a double-take. She suddenly remembered _everything.  
_

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kate was laying in a bed. That, she knew. What she didn’t know was what bed it was. The one she had in her room had this _really_ annoying bump in the middle of it that she constantly had to maneuver around. But here she was. Bump- _less_ ? Another thing she knew was that she couldn’t move. She couldn’t move. It felt like- like something out of a movie. Something out of a movie, or a tv show, or - _hell-_ even a picture she’d seen online. 

But _none_ of that mattered. Not to Kate. What mattered was that Kate knew _everything._ Kate knew everything, but she couldn’t say anything. She knew Riley stabbed her and Chess. _Chess!_ Kate had no idea if Chess was alive. On the other hand Kate had no idea if _she_ was alive, but she felt like the afterlife would be a bit more hell-inducing then laying in bed not being able to move, talk, or know if her best friend had bled out or not. _On second thought maybe I am dead._ Kate thought. _This might actually_ be _hell._

“Holy _shit_ !” cried a semi-familiar voice. It wasn’t someone she knew, but it was definitely someone who had spoken to her for she could remember it from somewhere. _If only I could have some kind out-of-body-experience or shit so I could see whoever is talking._

But she didn’t need one of those at the moment because her questioning was immediately answered. “Eva! Quiet your voice,” an older woman seemed to scold. 

_  
The other person -Eva- responded in a hushed whisper, much to Kate’s dismay. How was Kate to figure out what the hell was happening if she couldn’t hear anybody?!_ Being paralyzed or whatever was so frustrating! Then something clicked in Kate’s mind. _Am I in a coma?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy! Thank you so much for reading this chapter! I am really trying to get this fic out as much as possible because it's all really planned out, it just takes a bit of time and concentration(which is hard hard for all of us sometimes lol.) Anyways I'm going to have to do a bit more of extended research on the next chapter or two because I have never(nor do I know anyone) who has been in a coma before, therefore writing in Kate's pov is pretty difficult for me. If you or anyone you know has and I offend you/them in any way, please let me know and I will edit it to make sure it is as accurate as possible! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading as always, and I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing!


	4. Trapped in Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written in Cairo and Riley's point of views! 
> 
> tw! mentions of hospitals tw! mentions of blood/death

Cairo had been laying in bed for what felt like forever, just looking straight up at the ceiling and thinking. God she hated thinking. There was too much to think about. It felt as if she was trapped. Trapped in her own thoughts; scared of what others would think if they knew what she had done. Or maybe it was what she hadn’t done. 

Framing Mattie for murder. It made her stomach turn in an unexpected way. As soon as that stupid tree knocked Eva out, Cairo spiraled with fear. She didn’t want to go to the police with the knowledge that two girls were most likely dead and one was knocked out cold. Then Cairo and Riley heard Reese scream from inside. Then a second scream from Annleigh, only a few seconds later. That’s when they discovered the bodies of Farrah and Clark. Both dead. 

Then the idea seemed to just jump from her mind to her lips, and she somehow convinced three other girls to frame an innocent fourteen year old girl for murder/attempted murder. What was she becoming? A monster? No! She was a scared girl, that’s it! Cairo never thought she would be in a murder mystery, and frankly, she wanted no part of it! 

Rolling over in her bed, Cairo checked the time on her phone.  _ 10:15 pm _ . It had been five minutes.  _ Five minutes  _ since she last checked the time.  _ I’m going crazy. I’m going insane. _ Cairo thought, immediately going straight to messages to text a certain someone. 

**Cairo** : Are you still awake? 

**Riley** : Cai, it’s only 10 o’clock…

**Cairo** : I know but still

**Riley** : What’s up? 

**Cairo** : Idk Ri

**Cairo** : I just can’t stop thinking

**Riley** : That’s never good…

**Riley** : But me too. I don’t even know what I am thinking about because when I try to talk about it…

**Cairo** : nothing comes out?

**Riley** : Yeah.

**Riley** : Did you see what I said on the TIGERS group chat? You never respond so…

**Cairo** : No. I can’t even open that chat. Idk how you do

**Riley** : I open it because I am assertive and still trying to keep our team intact. 

**Riley** : Anyways, Reese and I are going to see Kate and Eva in the hospital tomorrow. I wanted Annleigh to come, but she is such a mess she text, and I quote, “noot comi ng. to sad” 

**Cairo** : Why would we go to the hospital? We barely even know Eva and Kate is in a fucking coma. It’s not like she can even tell if we go

**Riley** : Actually, Cairo, studies show that people in comas can sometimes hear others; especially those in stable condition. Plus, Eva is sharing a room with Kate so it won’t be that weird. I’m sure she’ll have questions, too! 

**Cairo** : I wouldn’t want answers from us if I were her. I would want them from the police or someone actually qualified to give full details

**Riley** : Are you coming or not? 

**Cairo** : ugh, I’ll come

**Riley** : Great! I’ll pick you up at 10:30 am sharp! 

_ 10:30 am?  _ Riley was clearly eager to see Eva, which surprisingly made Cairo a little jealous. Not that she would  _ ever _ admit it… 

\----------------------------------------

Riley slept like a baby. After she put her phone on silent from texting Cairo, she shut her lights off, closed her eyes, and dreamt of beautiful nothingness. 

In the morning she could barely contain her excitement, squealing a bit as she hopped into her car. The only thing that took away from seeing Eva was having to see Kate. Actually, she had no problem  _ seeing  _ her. She had a problem acting as if she was sad for her. She had to put on a worried face for everyone. The same face Riley had to put on when she came outside to see Chess’ dead body and Kate’s seemingly lifeless one. She had to keep a persona when they “found” Farrah’s body. She didn’t, however, have to put one on when she saw Clark slumped onto the ground. She hadn’t killed him. She hadn’t even known he was in her house! No matter. Annleigh thought Clark and Farrah were together, and as far as Riley was concerned, that worked as a great story. 

Pulling up to Cairo’s house, Riley honked the horn twice, and sure enough Cairo came trudging out the front door holding a coffee cup. As she slipped into the passenger seat, Riley couldn’t help but notice how little Cairo seemed to put into her appearance. Riley had woken up earlier than usual,  _ just _ so she would be a bit more presentable for Eva. 

“Are we picking up Reeses?” Cairo questioned as Riley drove out of her and Cairo’s neighborhood. 

Quickly smiling at the guard, Riley was let out of the community and replied, “She said she’d meet us there.” Then added, “I  _ may _ have told her to come at 11:15…”

“Why?  _ Why _ would you do that?” 

“Hey, she’s technically not even on the team. Yet, that is.” 

“ _ Riley _ ,” Cairo spoke with her eyes wider. “What do you mean by…  _ yet _ ?” 

“Well, since Chess and Farrah um...” Riley paused. She had no idea how to word this, but she was going to have to say something eventually anyways. “died- we need someone to  _ replace  _ them.” The words sounded gross coming out of her mouth, but Riley was sure she’d get over it eventually. She did it for the sake of the team after all. “I am going to offer their spots to Reese and Eva.” 

“Huh,” Cairo stated. “And who is going to replace Mattie and Kate?” At this point the two of them were sitting in the car at the hospital parking lot, waiting to go in.

“Well, Kate is actually still alive right now, and we will have another round of tryouts to replace Mattie,” Riley sighed, “And Kate if necessary…” 

“Is that really how you see Kate?” Cairo said, her loud voice sort of startling Riley. “And Chess and Farrah? As  _ replaceable _ ?” 

Riley shook her head, “No, no! Of course not!”

“Is that how you see  _ me _ ? Am  _ I  _ just as expendable?” Cairo inhaled a shallow breath. “Look Riley, I don’t mean to be so pushy all the time, but we are about to enter a really sensitive place. I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but we have to watch ourselves. Anything we say could be used against us! We are going to court next week to  _ lie _ to the cops. To the law! As much as I don’t want anyone’s pity on our team, I don’t want them to see us as heartless monsters who are easily replacing our team days after girls were  _ killed _ !” Cairo had been looking at Riley in the eyes the whole time she spoke, but only looked away at the very end. 

  
Everything Cairo was saying made no sense to Riley. She  _ hated  _ Farrah, didn’t care for Chess, and was surprised she showed an ounce of remorse for Kate! What was grief doing to this girl?! 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is so much to untangle here! The next chapter will be hopefully written soon, but school is really busy so that's a conflict :( 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!


	5. all of a sudden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hospital tw! be warry when reading if it triggers you at all

Silence was something Kate had never minded before. Before now. But she seemed to be drowning in it now. Without the ability to open her mouth to speak or to even move her god-damn  _ hand  _ a little bit, the junior was completely helpless. 

She didn’t know the time of day, or even what color the sheets of the bed she was laying in were.  _ Why am I worrying about the fucking sheets _ Kate thought to herself. This was one of the only moments where she wished there was someone out there who could read her mind. Someone who could tell the doctors that she was present and in the moment. 

The moments when the silence was broken with a voice or two is when Kate paid the most attention. Obviously she would do anything to get away from her own thoughts, but she was mostly listening for one thing. The one thing that wasn’t being discussed. 

Time moved on, dragging Kate with it. The other girl in her room, Eva, had been talking to her mom and the doctor, who came in occasionally. There was some kind of curtain going back and forth somewhere in the hospital room, but Kate didn’t need to be a genius to figure out it was between Kate and Eva’s beds.

The junior felt as if she was eavesdropping every time the mother and daughter would talk. They mostly talked about how Eva was feeling, how Eva’s siblings were, and everything the girl remembered before… passing out? That fact came on as a bit of a shock to Kate because if the paramedics came out to find three girls collapsed on top of each other-

“It was terrifying to get the call,” Eva’s mother spoke, bringing Kate out of her spiraling thoughts. “Some girl, I don’t remember her name right now, said that you were in the hospital. Then she said that it wasn’t just you, and I got even more concerned! Thank god you didn’t meet the knife like the other three.” 

_ Three? But there was only me and Ch- _

“Hang on, the girl was Reagan… right? No, no it was like-”

“Riley?” Eva asked innocently enough. But just hearing the name filled Kate with fumes. 

_ Riley. She almost fucking killed me! They don’t know?!  _ Kate's mind was racing.  _ How the hell would they? She must have covered it up somehow. And did she hurt someone else? But who? I don’t even know why she stabbed Chess! God, think! Who else was at the fucking party-  _

Kate hadn’t been able to feel anything these past few hours. But when she heard the voice of the exact person she was cursing at in her thoughts, her face felt like fire. All of a sudden the loud beeping that was coming from her side the whole time began to speed up. She heard shouting from not too far away, and it wasn’t long before footsteps were right beside the brunette’s bed. 

_ Fuck this!  _ Kate thought.  _ Why the hell- _

And with effort she didn’t even know she had bottled up, Kate squinted to see light she didn’t even know was there. 

  
  


\--------------------

It was all happening so fast.

Eva had just been starting to understand what actually went down the other night when two girls she recognized came in. Not even thirty seconds after the overly-perky redhead greeted Eva with a hello there were about seven doctors swirling around her roommate.

Eva noticed the redhead went pale.  _ She must not be comfortable in the hospital setting _ . 

“Riley, calm down. I’ll call Reese and tell her to hold off coming and we’ll leave. Oh my god, it’s okay!” The girl Eva was now remembering as Cairo said, practically shaking Riley. 

“Don’t you think we should stay to make sure  _ she’s  _ o-o-okay?” Riley stammered. Cairo narrowed her eyebrows and shook her head. Pulling Riley out of the room by her arm, Cairo mumbled something under her breath that Eva couldn’t make out. 

On the other side of the room there was so much going on that Eva couldn’t make out a word anyone was saying. Well the concussion probably wasn’t helping, but it had gotten so hectic that something bigger than than the heart monitor was going on. 

“Oh my god. Oh my…” Her mother almost never uses the  _ lord's name in vain _ or whatever, so when she grabbed Eva’s hand something was up. 

Eva looked up just in time to see Kate’s head shake, still on her pillow in bed, and her eyes fluttering. Then the curtain closed. Then Kate was out of her line of vision.

It was all happening so fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yet another really short chapter. this is by far the shortest, but it's been about two months so i thought i'd update anyway. as always, i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i did writing it! you can follow me on tumblr @those-candles-are-the-dead-ones for more watt content!!

**Author's Note:**

> I am in the middle of writing the 2nd chapter and I am on a long break next week for some reason, so there will be more chapters added shortly! (I also already have the whole plot planned out so chapters shouldn't be too far apart!) Anyways, I really hope that you enjoyed the first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!


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